It is bizarre how so much of the church today is trying to live under the heavy yoke of the law. It’s because we try to apply all of Jesus’ teachings to the church, not realizing that most of the time he was addressing and exposing self-righteousness in Israel. When Jesus came on the scene, Israel’s spirituality was influenced mostly by the Pharisees: A legalistic group who had watered down the law to the point where you could appear to be keeping it and therefore give off the deception of righteousness. But it was ultimate hypocrisy because, while giving the impression that they were keeping it outwardly, on the inside they were breaking it uncontrollably. Israel was beguiled by the Pharisees and Jesus’ coming was to bring them out of their legalism and into grace.Jesus said to those who were under the control of the Pharisees, “Come to me those that are weighed down and heavy burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” What was He talking about? He was talking about those who were under the yoke of the law. He was saying, “Give up your self-righteous laboring under the law and surrender to my grace and the gift of my righteousness.” The law is a heavy yoke for it weighs you down and crushes you and destroys you. Most don’t realize it, but that is exactly what it is purposed to do. It is intended to break you and to smash you down and show you that you cannot relate to God through your own righteousness. The harder you try, the harder it has to smash you down. That is why Jesus was angry with the Pharisees. We look at Jesus‟ teachings and think that he was giving us an even higher standard than the law to live up to, and especially now because we have the help of the Holy Spirit right? Much of the church literally believes that, and are zealously trying to do all that Jesus taught. The thing is they’re not trying to be evil, they’re trying to be good. They are acting just like Adam and Eve, and just like Israel, but that’s the problem. It’s not what God wants. Jesus wasn’t giving us a higher law standard that we now have to keep with the help of the Holy Spirit. He was exposing hypocrisy! He was angry with the Pharisees for lowering the law and making it appear as though they can actually keep it. He was angry because people would look at the Pharisees and think, “Wow, look at how holy they are. I wish I could be like them. I wish I could be that legalistic then I would be close to God too.” Legalism was seen as a virtue in those days. But Jesus came and exposed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and they hated him for it. He said things like, “Yes, on the outside you look like white-washed tombs, clean and beautifully decorated, but on the inside you are full of death. Your righteous acts are dead works. On the outside you are keeping the law but on the inside you are breaking every single command and God sees you as filthy, unrighteous and dead!” and, “You say you shouldn’t commit adultery but I say to you if you even lust in your heart then you have committed adultery.” He was saying that to the self-righteous yet the church thinks, “Oh that is the new standard for us.” No! Jesus was showing how extreme the law was. Even if you look righteous on the outside, the law exposes how unrighteous you are on the inside.We need to read through the Gospels discerning what Jesus was doing. He was re-elevating the law back up to its high standard to show how no one can keep it and be righteous through it, but that under the law we come to the end of ourselves. The law covenant was not God’s desire for mankind but designed to get us to finally surrender our self-righteous efforts and to receive the righteousness of God that comes through faith in Christ Jesus.There is only one covenant that is good enough and that is the grace covenant. It’s the only way by which man can draw near to God. (From Extra Virgin Grace by Ryan Rufus.)
